


In-Between

by Dekujin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Horror, Loneliness, Mental Anguish, Monster!Rumple, Night Terrors, Slow To Update, sleep paralysis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-04
Packaged: 2018-08-12 23:56:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7954039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dekujin/pseuds/Dekujin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle French hasn’t had the easiest life but doesn’t show it. During the day she’s the happy and welcoming (and kind of strange) librarian of Storybrooke, but at night she’s someone she rather dislikes-a fearful meek woman scared of the shadows in her room and the nightmarish things her mind makes them into when she enters the depths of sleep. Upon moving to Storybrooke though she notices in time a slight change in her usual bouts of horrible ‘sleep paralysis’ and wicked ‘night terrors’ that plague her endlessly.</p>
<p>In fact… She might be finding herself getting caught in-between something-or some places, and that she might not be as alone as thought… Whatever it is taking up the space on her bed beside her.</p>
<p>11/28/16 The Story will only be updated if I find the inspiration at another point and time to continue.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In-Between

**Author's Note:**

> Normally I don't just up and write an 8,000 word fanfic out the blue within ten hours. However I recently suffered a strange twist to the sleep paralysis I normally get (imagine waking up and feeling your whole bed shaking but knowing its really not and yet being terrified anyways) and wanted to avoid going to bed, so I wrote this with no real direction beyond these scenes. It is inspired by some of my own sleep paralysis moments and also from the show 'Stranger Things' on Netflix, which is an amazing series.
> 
> If anyone likes this enough to want to read more I'd be up for prompts-I have a vague idea for the plot, but would love to know what you'd guys would like-I've never opened a story up like this to readers before so please, be gentle. Thank you though for giving this a chance.
> 
> (Also high chance for possible grammar mistakes-I don't have a beta when I write and I've been up for 24 hours.)

The clock ticked, and ticked, and ticked, wheedling away the thinning hours, drawing her ever closer to the inevitable fate she was to endure. It was the same as every night though, especially as of late these last few months, and she could only evade it for so long. No matter how hard she tried to keep up with those turning hands her eye lids gradually loosened and her mind slipped into a haze of muddled thoughts like nature intended.

But if there was one thing Belle French absolutely hated-it was going to bed.

She’d hated it long ago too as a child, so it wasn’t like this distaste for it was new. From then on she’d hated it as a teenager when slept felt almost as vital as reading the newest book from her favorite author the day it came out. In college it was an added misery upon her already stress filled days-though she had many nights spent staying up late anyways cramming for an exam or finishing a thesis paper for her degree in library science. Yet, after all that time she thought things might one day change, but at the age of twenty seven, living in her own home-be it an apartment above the library she worked at in a slumbering seaside town in Maine, she still loathed the time it came for her to sleep.

No, it wasn’t like she suffered insomnia, sleep apnea, or anything of that nature. What she suffered from was something different and yet not remarkable, at least… She thought it wasn’t-it shouldn’t be.

Already thinking about it was making her skin crawl uncomfortably, and so the beauty took a tender sip from a cup of hot tea she’d made to help soothe her nerves. The warm tasty contents should have brought some form of relief to ease down her racing heart beat, but alas… It was not meant to be as her lack of eagerness to climb into bed remained ever the same. Her set of dazzling blue eyes glanced then to the wall clock perched up the desk she was sitting at while making a pitiful attempt to read through her latest thriller book she’d snagged.

To her further dismay she found it was almost three in the morning-not to mention a Monday morning. That meant she had to wake up at nine sharp in hopes to be ready-or decent enough in time for opening the library at ten. A soft sigh escaped her flush lips before she went to nibbling on them while making up her mind on what to do. The answer was already clear as she couldn’t let down the few visitors she got after all, and so she closed the book with a small ‘thud’, readying to face her fate.

‘No one decides my fate but me… But sleep-that’s a fate I can’t escape. At least I can face it with some dignity…’

She'd already prepared for bed long ago as she was wearing her favorite lacy nightgown since summer had come earlier this year. That meant the heat of her second floor apartment was rather stuffy for the first week of June. The soft, white, thin fabric hugged her curves gently but was rather modest in appearance. It wasn’t like she had anyone in her life or bed to impress after all-it just felt less restricting than pajama pants. 

Speaking of restricting-Belle reached up to her head of lush auburn hair and released it from the bun she’d had it set in, spilling the locks free over her back in bouncing curls. Part of her prickled for a moment when she was busy combing her fingers through the messy ends. A strange gut feeling of being watched stirred up some goosebumps over her bare arms, but she quickly pushed it aside like ancient practice. No one was in her apartment save her and it wasn’t like anyone could see into it either with the curtains drawn shut-it was just another part of the paranoia that came with her night time terror.

Still… The feeling had gotten worse the last few months, ever since she moved there’d been this strange… Well…

Brushing it aside was all she could do in the mean time, and so she did. Taking her empty cup of tea she placed it on her dresser, promising to wash it in the morning. With that set aside she moved through her modest apartment and its simple furnishings straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and have some cold water before hitting the hay. Perhaps she did take her sweet time combing her hair till it was nice and smooth, stalling just a bit further the horrid wrangle of sleep that was to come.

When she flicked the bathroom light off the darkness of her apartment-the emptiness-the vacancy almost made it feel far too big for just her to be occupying as she returned to her room. A rather discomforting notion raced through her mind as her bare feet took the practiced steps with ease towards the only beacon of light coming from the end of the hallway.

As nervous as she might be the young woman really liked living on her own, and much preferred it to any dorm shared at college or the thought of having to room at her father’s apartment… No doubt it would feel better to have at least  _someone else_ around when she was like this, but the father daughter duo hadn’t been on good speaking terms for a few years. Despite being kind hearted Belle knew she’d been a lot to handle given her rather stubborn and head first into everything nature as a kid to teenager, but her father also just couldn’t understand even years later that his visions of her life was not what she wanted at all…

He’d never been good about helping her deal with her ‘issues’ either…

Issues. Problems. She didn’t like describing what she endured with those words, but then what was she to call the horrific scenes that played out in her mind as she slept and woke in halves? What was she to call the sensations-the heightened fear and horror that crawled through her veins every time she shut her eyes against her pillow in dread of what was to come?

Shaking her head to herself Belle walked like normal back into her bedroom, but didn’t once glance back into the shadows occupying the spaces she dwelled within lamp light and sun. When she stepped past the door she stopped though, for some reason something urged her to do something she normally didn’t do before bed. Blaming it on her spike of fear putting her on edge tonight the beauty grabbed the metal handle of the door and shut it all the way, locking it up tight too.

God-was she that fearful that she had to lock herself up in her own bedroom in an apartment that was already locked up in a town with an abysmal crime rate? This was really getting out of hand, not to mention embarrassing for someone who wanted themselves to be known for being courageous… No-no one could ever know how terrified the beauty was getting of becoming vulnerable in her bed-not that she admitted to her night terrors to anyone anymore… Belle felt even more foolish, but she didn’t care for the looks of pity and sympathy when there were people out there who suffered things far worse than she…

What she saw, felt, and experienced wasn’t real after all… Even if it felt like it was in the moment.

Regardless, with the front door’s two locks all set, the house void of anyone except her, and her own bedroom door locked to boot Belle was confident she was safe as could be from the outside world.

That didn’t stop the impending sense of doom radiating through her limbs from the world she had to now face in the depths of her mind.

Willing herself forward the tiny woman stood at the side of her bed before moving the mound of pillows into a more comfy position. The smell of freshly washed sheets and lavender scented fabric softener caressed her nose as she crawled underneath the awaiting comforter. It brought a small glimpse of peace to Belle’s weary heart, and yet it quickly fled when she reached over and turned off the lone lamp sitting on her night stand. Darkness flooded her room immediately after, hiding everything in a sea of black till her eyes adjusted when a few minutes passed by.

Luckily with aid from the library beneath the waiting was not horrible for there was some white noise from the water heater, AC unit, and the shifting of the building’s foundation. A thin smile reached her lips as she nestled further into the downy mattress beneath. There was nothing worse than when everything at night was just way too… Quiet.

Quiet meant her imagination could take off and leave her to hear horrid things, calling voices, cries, and hisses that didn’t truly exist but felt like they were to her on the fine edge that was between waking and sleeping.

Yet, despite having felt the calls of sleep earlier the blue eye beauty was now stuck rolling around in her bed. The mattress was a plush one recommended to her by a previous doctor, so it was super comfortable in the physical sense, but no matter what position she took up-arms tucked at her sides, legs curled up to her chin, being splayed on her back or lounging on her belly, she couldn’t get comfortable mentally. For a moment Belle huffed out loud in irritation with her cheeks puffing up at the indignation of being reduced to this-this… Cowering meek human so much like the child she once was who constantly ran to her parents room to wake her mother up and beg to be allowed to sleep with them.

Mother… Every night she couldn’t help but think of the one person who had tried so hard to understand what her child was going through. Colette French had always been so kind about it despite the trouble it surely must have caused after years of therapy and doctor visits. Belle’s heart warmed at the distant memories of how her mother let her day time warrior and night time scaredy cat crawl up beside her so many times as she tucked her arms safely about her tiny frame.

Then… After mom died in a car accident that was caused by a careless semi driver-gone so fast from this world the daughter barely had time to morn, the nights without her only seemed to worsen. Like the night terrors themselves the effects of her death continued to linger in unconscious thoughts and nightmarish scenes, haunting the rims around her eyes.

Guilt washed over Belle then at how the memories of her mother had been pulled into this too-this ‘phenomenon’ felt like it was tainting all the good they’d ever shared together. But life even with this constant struggle wasn’t all that bad-in the day time she was so much more the happy go lucky person she knew herself to be than the person she was like this. Working at the library down bellow was wonderful too because she got to share her love of books and story telling-the passion that held claim to her heart. Not many people got why she was such an avid reader, but she often told those people that she liked to think they were gateways into other worlds without the price of leaving this one. Beyond knowledge, resources, and entertainment books were useful in helping those needing a temporary escape or to act as a guide for someone lost on their path.

For her personally the one thing she loved most about books was how they could also be friends to someone who didn’t have many or any at all… It was terrible, but the bookworm could count on one hand how many friends she’d had in the little over two decades she’d been alive.

Shame flittered through her fair face at that, but the stubborn woman fended that emotion off too-she didn’t have any friends right now, but she reminded herself she’d only lived in Storybrooke for a few months. Originally all the way from Australia-as her accent clearly gave away, Belle had found herself immigrating after college in hopes to seek out the adventure she longed for. No she hadn’t found it yet, but the people here in this peaceful town she was strangely drawn to and managed to find employment in were nice and kind to her. Unlike her home town or the city she was in when attending college they didn’t know her full story, or how many times she woke up muffling her own screams, or sitting in bed horrified as she felt it shake beneath her-all her own fault, or saw how terrified she looked as her body remained frozen in place but her mind awake…

No one else here knew of those moments where she was unable to lift a finger, unable to speak, unable to cry out in alarm at the lanky, sinister, figures-the  _ **intruders**_ who stood right beside her bed, or in her room, watching… Waiting… Speaking… Coming for her…

But with the move had come far more recent experiences in her night time hell-scape she had never gone through before. It was new for her to endure feeling a weight pressed on her upper stomach which had been going on nearly every night now in this apartment. The sensation was like something was purposefully holding her down to keep her in place while she begged for the sun to rise and wake the rest of her.

‘Now you’re just being overdramatic. Good grief…’ Her thoughts snapped, and she had to agree with them as she blinked sleepily. Sleep paralysis, night terrors, all these things were experienced by many other people all over the world, and most of them lived rather normal lives despite it. She’d even met others who suffered from it too face to face at an event at a medical conference in Boston with a speaker who talked about the effects of the strange phenomenon from a deeply scientific standpoint. Afterwards there’d been many shared descriptions from the attendants speaking of their own experiences-typical things like demonic whisperings they swore they’d heard, the strange sensations, and of the common great overwhelming fear for those who too found themselves stuck in their beds-unable to control their own bodies.

For that short lived moment Belle almost felt normal amongst them as she listened, until she began to talk to some others about some side effects that she too experienced.

When she had she remembered how they’d only stared at her in mute or concerned shock.

But these were true, and most of these only got worse the older she got. There’d be times when Belle would wake up with small fresh cuts on her arms, legs, or stomach-all the way on her back even, and she never remembered having them before she went to sleep. Or there’d be days where she’d discover new bruises in places she knew she didn’t cause even after running into book cases when her nose was planted in the spine of some captivating novel. There was also the times where things seemed to have moved about her room in the middle of the night- even fallen over or been found broken-but one couldn’t sleep walk and suffer sleep paralysis at the same time? Right?

Strange enough, Belle realized while staring up at the bleak crown ceiling above, that those side effects had dwindled down since she moved here to the states. More specifically… To Storybrooke.

But still, she’d been alone in all of those odd ‘side effects’… Making her feel even more like an outcast than ever before. A tiny voice that grew with each year told had began to tell her what she experienced was something, far-far worse than what everyone told her to believe. That it was not just night terrors or the hellish sights her mind supposedly concocted according to her various psychiatrists and doctors she’d seen.

That alone was a whole other terrifying notion she didn’t even want to think about.

‘That’s right-it’s all just pure coincidence-I’m probably cutting myself with my nails at night and hitting my limbs causing bruises with hypnic jerks. So calm down and relax… Everyone experiences things differently with these issues, but it’s important to remember the techniques you’ve studied to handle them.“ The young woman repeated the mantra religiously within her head as she took slow deep breaths through her nose and rolled onto her side. ‘This is the night! You can control this-this is your body and your mind-you can make these horrible nightmares into beautiful dreams if you want to. You can escape the horror- _you can._ ’

Belle had told herself things like that so many nights now with little change following that it was honestly becoming a bit depressing. However, that didn’t stop her stubborn hope from firing her up to think that maybe this would finally be the night where she’d overcome-that she’d win a proper peaceful sleep.

It’d be nice for just once if she could sink into her bed and into unconsciousness without fear for anything at all. What would it be like to dream and not wake to see hallucinations or hear unspoken words for whatever reason stirred her? Belle smiled further into the case of her pillow, thinking in these kinder dreams she’d just like to be normal herself than anything too outrageous. In them she’d be off adventuring in some foreign country or beautiful place, making new friends along the way or being the hero she longed to be like the stories she read so often. Maybe in them she wouldn’t be alone in those journeys, and at the end of them her mother would be right at her side to hear the stories and see the treasures she’d found along the way…

Belle would also tell her mother of what she’d done all these years she’d been away-how hard she continued to work to make some of these wishes into a reality beyond simple dreams. For once she’d like to see a pair of eyes-especially those ones similar to her own sky blue, look at her with pride from hearing how far she’d come. There’d be no more fearing the unknown in such dreams, no more hiding who she truly was-Belle would be free to simply be… 

She’d be honestly happy.

‘What a lovely thought…’ The young woman purred in her mind, pleased while she felt her heavy soul slipping into one right now. So, with a satisfied smile Belle allowed the call of sleep to settle into her bones, for tonight would be the night that things changed for once.

But it was too late for her to recall a certain saying-be careful what you wish for.

**_‘I GOT YOU. I GOT YOU. I GOT YOU.’_ **

Belle’s eyes flew wide open, startled by what-what she just-

Oh no-no-no-no… She’d been doing so good! She was finally going to escape like she always wanted to! The warmth that had wound its way through her body was immediately ripped straight from her by the hands of dread as the low whispering she just heard turned into harsh muttering that battered her eardrums.

**_'DE… NT… CAN’T HELP… YOUR MINE-MINE-MINE-MINE…’_ **

Belle’s fear grew frantic with each choked breath- _if only she could move!_

Because if she could she’d dig her fingernails into her arm to the point of bleeding if would stop herself from seeing what she was now.

With the hour that had passed-she’d fallen asleep halway through, without her knowledge the young woman’s pair of bright eyes had adjusted under their lids, allowing her to see better into the bleakness of the quaint bedroom. Everything about the room itself was normal as could be from what she could tell right away. The dresser, her desk, the two bookcases overflowing with book upon book-everything was as it was before she laid down.

Wait…

The door… Her door… God…

She’d locked it, there was no way she made that up, she’d felt the lock twist under her hand-she’d tugged the bloody knob!

And now it was wide open.

And there was an _**intruder**_ standing in it.

A small gasp managed to rise up from her numbed throat as the sweat beading on her skin began increase from the abrupt stifling heat of the room. Belle tried to tear her eyes away from the thing-begged with all her might to not stare at the dark shape hovering just within the door frame, but she couldn’t. Adrenaline was already coursing through her thrumming heart-not enough to stir her legs or arms into motion though. They and the rest of her brain were still confined in the realm of unconsciousness far from where 'she’ currently was.

Why was she so freaked out this time? Scenarios like this had happened many times before that this one shouldn’t have been different-but this didn’t seem right at all! She’d never seen anything ever like this with the door-or to this visual extent of-of what she didn’t know… Often she saw shapes-yes, blob like figures-yes, heard low whispering-yes, yes, yes-but how did her door open after she’d locked it?

Altogether a new horror hit her like a brick wall then, but not enough to rouse her paralyzed body. Did someone really break into her apartment? Was she trapped in this frozen hell while a real to life intruder stood within a few feet away? While she was unable to do anything to stop them?

It seemed tonight she was to suffer from something worse than just the typical night terrors that plagued her.

Yet, the intruder-the figure-the possible figment of her imagination didn’t move right away. In fact when it moved after second upon second of nothing it wasn’t human like at all to her growing horror. It bent too far over on its jagged back to be that of a proper human anatomy-what human being would be bent over like that to enter a room anyways? Somehow her fearful gaze tore away to glance at the hand like appendages curled about the door frame, though they were too fuzzy and out of focus for her to examine in greater detail. Its dark face was remarkably more visible than the rest of its wispy like form of what she recognized as normal  _ **intruders**_.

That was the worst of all though, for its 'head’ if one could call it that, was split so far in half that she could see through the slip into the hallway leading to the shadows of her living room.

‘Stop looking Belle! It’s just a hallucination! It’s just a dream-calm down! IT’S NOT REAL!’ Her mind screamed while the organ beating so hard against her ribs felt like it was about to burst through the bones.

Forcing her eyes shut Belle whimpered inaudibly, wishing away the thing she saw and trying to focus on any tricks she’d read to help break this awful state. The sheets beneath her were starting to soak with the sweat escaping her pores, creating a sickly cold sensation against the burning heat of her flesh. Wait-yes! There was hope yet! If she just focused on some physical stimuli it would help her in escaping the paralysis! It had helped her a few times before on rare occasions she had such coherent thought-but if there was ever a time to use it, it was sure as hell now.

Against the sheets her toes began slowly wriggling as she used the cold sensation upon her skin in hopes to jump start her body. The digits barely flinched-not moving near as much as she tired to make them, but it took time she recalled, and so she clenched her eyes tight and did her best. The beauty’s quickened strangled breath was the only noise she could hear at the moment-it was a quiet murmur in reality but a shrieking storm encompassing the room to her.

But then she heard something else once more that stilled the tiniest shift in her big toe.

But this time it wasn’t at the doorway…

It was right next to her ear.

_**“TOO LATE… NO ESCAPE FOR YOU. YOU’RE IN-BETWEEN. IN-BETWEEN. YOU’RE MINE.”** _

At that her eyes popped back open, the alarm evident in the horrified expression carved into her fair features. It was a foolish mistake on her part to open them again-it would have been better to not face the horror she knew she was going to see, but those words… They struck her with a deep unending terror even worse than before-and her curiosity became to great to this unknown, this threat, this change, this… _**Intruder**_ that was unlike any _**intruder**_ _before._

So she looked, eyes turning as far as they could go in the corner of their sockets to find what was waiting there for her.

The face, eyeless, dark, and with too many teeth in its snout like deformed skull spilt in two, seemingly peered back at her over the edge of her bed. It wasn’t like she could do much more than she already was, but Belle just stared back with the inability to think anything beyond the impossible thing she was inches from. None of her previous night terrors or boughs of sleep paralysis-none of the documents and studies she had read on the subject ever mention something to the extreme like this. 

And It was like it seemed to understand what she didn’t from how the vile thing staring back began to smile that horrid mangled smile even wider.

And then… The next few seconds went far too fast and yet entirely too slow.

The monstrous like **intruder** -now upon closer inspection-made of shadowy corpse like flesh moved its maw to closer to her face. It was easy to read its intentions with the movement for it was the movement of a predator. The thing was lunging forward to more than likely pierce her face with that endless supply of teeth and tear it right clean off. With a violent gush she felt the cold of its quick breath-smelt the decay within too, and saw the back of its throat filled with even more sharp teeth towards a abyss like tunnel leading to its gullet. In a second those teeth would shatter the bones and shred the muscles of her face, but all Belle could focus on was the fact she didn’t even have enough time to shed a single tear.

But it was just a dream though-right?

Then without any forewarning the _**intruder**_  leaning in to maul her was flying back-its body loudly colliding with her dresser and knocking over the things on top-including a stack of books she’d brought up from the library the other day. In an instant the thing’s body became more wisp like as it was stuck floundering upon its far too hunched back like a dejected pill bug. Human and inhuman sounds roared to life from it too when it crashed in an unnatural vibrating echo. Those cries were a mixture like that of a screech owl calling in the middle of the night, the roaring of a drunk man in a cavernous room, and shattering glass breaking pure silence.

More importantly though was what the hell just happened right now? What had expelled it like that? Had she done that-or was this just a twist in her dream to save her-was this not even somehow a dream?

Belle got what she felt was an answer when she out of the blue she also felt a new weight press against her upper stomach. It was the one she was use to feeling these last few months since the first night she claimed this small one bedroom apartment as her own.

In her abundant fear and confusion the sensation shouldn’t have made her feel safe in the least bit, but for whatever reason _it did_. That changed somewhat though when her eyes glued to the monstrosity across the room peeled away to her chest to see something she’d never seen before either.

There was a physical hand settled there, beneath her breasts but above her groin, pushing down on her as a much more human like figure loomed above. It was facing the other _**intruder**_ -or being-or figment of her imagination, but was too hard for her to make out from the angle along with the darkness. Yet, the hand resting on her body she could see from the way it strangely glinted-as if producing its own luminescence. Her momentary awe fell to pieces at what she saw at the end tips of those hands-dark monstrous claws that were curled over her damp night gown-not to mention it had scale like green plates thickly coating its rough looking skin.

All the figures in her dreams before-even as a kid, never had been as detailed as this. Most of them were just humanoid shapes easily mistranslated from her brain as an  _ **intruder**_  when they were more than likely just shadows or surrounding objects confusing her warbled mind. But this-this unbelievable imagery made it seem far too real despite its own conundrum-how could she imagine this up to such a outrageous specifics?

But those long spindly fingers sure looked real as they curled tighter over her body while she watched their every move from her frozen position. The black claws digging into the fabric of her nightgown were as deadly as she thought they were when she felt them prick her skin ever so slightly. Somehow that didn’t stop her from sensing there was a different meaning about this touch despite her rational fear telling her otherwise. This wasn’t a threatening display aimed at her-this _**intruder**_ wasn’t even looking at her from what she could tell of its angular dark profile lined with a crooked looking nose.

But with a quick glance at the other nightmarish thing currently drawing itself back up and turning around as if shocked too…

It was like the one above seemed to be protecting her… Or maybe…

Like it was claiming her.

If she’d been in a state of mind any what sane-though who could be sane in a situation like this, she would have been angered at such a display. Whatever it was doing though was sending another signal to the snouted _**intruder**_  from what she could understand as her blue eyes flickered back and forth between them.That _**intruder**_ continued hissing that terrible sound of its at a lower vibration that hummed all the way through the floor and made her bed tremble a bit.

Not seeming to like that response the one above her responded in kind. Emitting its own threatening roar the glinted scaled one sounded a lot like a mash of creaking wood, of creepy childish giggling, and the rushing of a horrible whirlwind. That sound alone made her entire bed it was hunched upon vibrate so hard she could feel it rattle down to the floor to her other furniture as she laid splayed beneath it like a plastic doll jolting along in the ride.

When that display didn’t seem enough for the other _**intruder**_ , though it cowered with its head down by its thin far too many segmented legs, the being holding her lowered itself down further too. She gasped in silence as it drew its body tight across her own, pressing its ragged chest without a heartbeat against hers while her heart slammed into her breasts. The act left her overly sweaty face muffled in a tangle of dark- _and oh god_ -moving hair like strands coming from its head that smelt oddly enough of straw and mossy earth. Her nostrils flared to life as the teasing ends wriggled gently against her face, and to her unexpected pleasure she found they were soft too… Softer than velvet, her own night gown, or even the fresh petals off of budding rose like the ones in her father’s shop…

How could something so terrifying smell so nice and be so soft… With those two senses at ease she also realized the weight upon her didn’t feel so scary for some reason either. Even with it practically covering her body with its own it wasn’t like it was groping her, or anything of such a vile sexual nature-it was very warm too, but in a soothing way…

She wasn’t sure what was happening, or what occurred next following that while she was pulled in this new daze overtaking her. There was no other sound of the snouted one after that roar as she began to be lulled back into her dreams. Deep down inside she was far too desperate to make sense of what was happening to be claimed by sleep so easily … Was this just some new form of nightmare from her growing paranoia or was this something more like she felt all these years was building it to be?

In-between… In-between… What did it mean?

After a bit of time-not that she could really tell, the weight on top of her lessened to an extent. Instead it became more of a comfortable pressure against her side and lower stomach. If she wasn’t already in such disbelief she’d swear that its clawed hand was kneading her tense muscles through her gown like some kind of a nightmarish house cat. The softness of those strange tendrils drifted more to her cheek as well, slipping to rove over her chin and neck before disappearing from her person altogether. It only left her longing for them to return, but the overwhelming presence remained right beside her even when she finally could not resist the siren call of the unconscious state. 

No matter amount of toe wiggling could free her now.

Not that she wanted to be free at this point… But did she mean from this  **intruder** too?

Still, she wanted to ask what it was-was it even one of them? Why was it here-or how long it had been near her these last few months? What had she been experiencing all these years then, and what did it want from her since it seemed to be hanging around for a while now? Why did it save her from the other one-unless it was going to eat or kill her like the other…

That frightening thought didn’t seem likely with how vulnerable she remained, and yet continued to breath and dwell in the land of the living alongside it. Questions and then some scrapped desperately at the back of her throat, but of course no words ended up slipping out. With the humanoid like thing’s gentle touch and warmth nearby the beauty’s breath softened as her heart returned to a far slower beat.

Yet, before she closed those sky blue eyes in her final defeat she saw a glint of something vibrant gold near her… It reminded her of burning amber and the morning sun on the horizon, but those pretty irises peering back at her also had reptilian slits-all far too large to be considered any way normal.

_**“Sleep dear one… No more going in-between… Not for tonight.”**_ It told her in a hushed voice with a lit far too human and comforting for such claws, hands, and eyes.

But for once what a lovely thing sleeping sounded like, and so sleep she did.

—————

'Oh god, not yet… Please, five more minutes…’

When she woke up with a start a groan was already echoing through the otherwise vacant air of her apartment. Unfortunately she’d been roused from her pitiful attempt at slumber thanks to the alarm on her nightstand next to her which was bleating noisily. In short chirps the device belted out that it was nine in the morning-meaning it was time for her to start her day, but its delight couldn’t breach the tiredness swallowing her entire body. Why… Why was she so extra tired-besides the usual awful nights she was more than use to at this point…

Oh yeah, her memory was a bit hazy, but she’d went to bed at like three last night. What a mistake that was, and one she was now paying for dearly.

Muttering a curse under her breath the young woman reached a hand up to her hair, brushing it through the messy mound thrown about in all directions on her pillow. It was still hard to see anything in the bleariness in her vision, and so Belle rubbed also at the crusts of sleep in the corner of her eyes. Slowly but surely those sluggish hands of hers trailed away to rest down the front of her stomach, making her feel more at ease at the pressing weight. Belle frowned though as the beeping continued-she knew it would be best if she got up right away to jump into the shower and kick start her brain in preparation of the day. Yet, there was something luring her away from the waking world for once in a positive way. 

Taking a deep breath in she nuzzled her nose further into her pillow, smelling her own shampoo, laundry detergent, and now the placed scent that could be none other than…

Straw… Or something of that nature. It was oddly male though, which was so out of place given after how many years she’d last even had a date…

'It’s comforting though, might as well enjoy it…’ Was her simple thought, before all her thoughts went awry the next instant.

What happened last night began to dawn on her, so quick and fast, that she let out a startled bellow that seemed to contain all the fear she’d felt in those horrifying moments, surely startling all wildlife within a five mile radius. It only took a minute to regain herself after, but Belle’s usually witty mind became a whirlwind of unintelligent garble trying to cope with what… Happened…

Last night…

_The thing at he door-it was open after she locked it-and then the other thing that had saved her-been by her the whole night-smelt of straw and moss-_

Flinching Belle lurched her body into sitting position and turned to her left where she’d felt the presence last night-like it’d been curled against her. However like most of her expected there was nothing there beside her except one of her discarded pillows and a large rumple in the comforter. It wasn’t enough for her to prove that there had indeed been anyone there at all, but she still trailed a hand over that spot, wondering if some warmth from that **_intruder_** had possibly remained… To let her know she might not be loosing her mind like she fearing she might be.

But alas, there was no warmth there at all. The absence caused Belle to shiver for the first time that month at the cold sliding over her bare skin. Reaching for her rejected pillow though she took a few deep sniffs of it as well-this one kind of smell like straw too, but she might forcing herself to think that way… There had to be something else-more definitive….

Wait! She did have more proof that last night had truly happened! Feeling victorious the blue eyed beauty cast aside the pillow, sending it across the room with surprising force. Last night her bedroom door had been somehow opened after she locked it up tight, and though it would never work for anyone else as an explanation to what occurred, it didn’t matter! For herself it would be all she needed to help confirm she not been the victim of hallucinations this time around.

This was big-this was horrifying-but she needed to know!

Swiftly Belle glanced over to her bedroom door in nervous anticipation, but the hopeful expression… Hopeful? She shouldn’t have been hopeful to discover such a nightmare had been actuality-good for her that had not been the case. Still, the excitement buzzing in her features vanished till she only had her mouth parted enough to release a rather bleak-

"Oh…”

The door she’d seen last night suddenly open was very much closed. From where she sat upon her bed the daylight streaming through the curtain in slivers proved that much-she could even see the lock turned like she’d left it.

‘But the door had been opened and that intruder had been there… I’m so sure of it-I just know that wasn’t some nightmare or… Dream-or fictional vision!’ The young woman thought while her mouth floundered as if to bleat such things to the open for all of Storybrooke to hear. Not feeling quite defeated yet the beauty curled her hands into the sheets, scrunching them up tight, before tossing them aside and freeing herself of their bindings. Her bare feet bolted on the cool wood floor as she turned to face her dresser, recalling the horrifying snouted thing she’d seen had hit it and knocked over some books from the brute force.

Except there was no mess either. The books she had stacked on the top were just as she remembered them being before any ‘sleep paralysis’ or ‘night terrors’ overtook her a few hours ago.

That meant… No-she hadn’t… Or had she?

She had made it all up.

It was such a devastating blow-even when it shouldn’t have been, that Belle stumbled back and fell onto her bed. Sitting there she eventually reach up and held her head in both her trembling hands, hidden beneath her sleep laden curls though there was no one else to see her fall apart. For the first time in a long while she allowed the tears to break through, spilling like a cascade over the burning rims of her eyes and down her cheeks in rivulets. None of this made sense to be crying about it! She should be happy that a gruesome world where such terrible things-such monsters existed was but nothing but-a-a mere fairytale! There was no bogeyman like thing to stalk her in her sleep and tear her face off-nor something human like the other **_intruder_** to hold her through long endless nights. That touch had been imaginary-that smell-that voice-that comfort…

She should be happy it was just a slightly unusual go around…

But why wasn’t she happy about it?

The blaring of her alarm hadn’t ceased during this amount of time, and it began to wear on her nerves from the dull headache she had. With a little too much enthusiasm the young woman reached over and slammed the 'snooze’ button, silencing the contraption for at least five minutes. That made her feel a little bit better, and so the soft heaving of her sobs died down enough for her to become more her usual rational self again. Belle’s embarrassment returned as well, making her crimson cheeks darken even more as she scolded herself-like mother did-about letting herself run head first into things without a second thought.

Feeling a little bit better, just a margin more, the beauty got back up despite how she longed for a bit more shut eye. At least, whatever peaceful kind she could find-but for now she had a sunny summer day to prepare for and a library needing its only staff member. There would be time later to mull about such wild dreams and haunting hallucinations to reach in and find their supposed meaning. Perhaps she could start doing some further research to into other topics involving sleep and its links to human psychology-along with its effects in these areas. Who knows-she might have just ate something strange that upset her stomach and caused a whole chain reaction without knowing it last night!

With a bit of hope stirred in her heart to figure out such mysterious possibilities Belle got up, walked towards one window, and threw the curtains back. Glorious sunlight gleamed off the window pane and through, allowing her figure to be kissed by the rising morning in hues of yellow and gold. Gold… The morning sun did indeed look a lot like those strange eyes she thought she’d seen that had scared her as much as they had… Well, they’d done something else to her-she was not sure what, regardless if they were just imaginary.

Satisfied for the moment by the lovely view of downtown and the peeks of the woods in the not too far distance the librarian pressed on to her typical week day morning routine. Digging through her closest she set out some clothes-a summer dress-heels, before she headed to the bathroom for a refreshing shower. The warm water was more than welcome when she lathered herself up with soothing aromatic body soap and shampoo, leaving her smelling wonderful when she stepped out into the cooler air. From there it was merely putting on her normal arrangement of make up-maybe just a bit more around her eyes for the purple gained from a lack of sleep was starting to line them. When she was satisfied with her appearance and all dressed she was ready to dash down the metal steps outside to reach her awaiting library and beloved books.

Well, that was until her stomach growled as she was making her way out the front door in her haste. Realizing she’d just been about to run about without even a morsel of food in her the entire morning she zoomed back into the kitchen to grab something to go. Snagging a fresh yogurt she turned towards a cabinet drawer to grab a spoon and then be off on her way, but ended up halting mid motion opening it when something… Different… Something completely out of place-if only noticeable by her, caught her immediate attention.

The cup she’d been using for tea last night, the one she’d left on the dresser and said she’d clean later-but totally forgot…

Was sitting right on the kitchen counter in the drying rack.

Those set of pretty blue eyes in that beautiful face blinked, wide eyed in pure bafflement at this-unexpected-… Surprise? Horror? Daunting revelation? She wasn’t sure what to think. Maybe she’d… No. No way.

Something flickered in her heart then, a mixture of emotions-fear, excitement, terror, and endless curiosity that would one day get her killed at this rate. Yet, as if fearing what she seeing was just another mere hallucination Belle reached out and tapped the cup hesitantly. It was solid beneath her fingers, and was when she curled them around the glossy white handle to bringing it towards her in blatant disbelief.

'There’s no way… Was I right? Had that all happened? Then what **had** happened?’

Glancing about her apartment the beauty began to fear someone was pranking her or watching from the shadows in gleeful sinister amusement, but Belle found nothing else out of the ordinary. Not sure-and wanting time to think it further seeing as this was a lot to… Take in, she set the cup back down in the drying rack, though a small smile rested on her lips. Was it born out of mind numbing terror or insane happiness? She was not sure either, but with that she swiveled on her feet with a spoon in tow, moving towards the front door of her apartment. With one glance back into the sunlit spaces of her home she nervously nodded her head for no rational reason before she finally departed. With a groan the wood door closed behind her, then clicked with the sound of a lock, and then was silent as the sound of her clattering heels disappeared down the metal stairwell.

The apartment remained just like that even afterwards-along with the several hours that passed-silent, empty, devoid of any true occupant till its renter returned. Ms. French on the other hand continued through her day with a smile pinned up on her face as if nothing was at all wrong for the few people that did eventually stop in her corner of town. A young boy named Henry Mills earned one as he got to borrow the final in a series he’d been asking for nonstop, Jefferson Hatter-a rather unique individual, came in to inquire about books on amateur telescope making… For what exact reason she could only make hopeful assumptions and for that he got a smile, and then Hansel and Gretel came in with their father to return some late books and pay for the fees, to which she gave a few reassuring grins.

Yes, it was seeming like another normal 'day’ for Belle as she stood behind the counter. Funnily enough she noticed that in truth she was just another odd story amongst the many different kinds surrounding her at this point. Perhaps her’s was something belonging to the ‘horror’ section, or maybe ‘tragedy’ was a better fit genre wise, or perhaps even ‘nonfiction’ if she was right about this feeling she sensed, but like a true good book… She was not sure what route her life was about to take her, and there was no getting to take a sneak peak at the end of your own tale.

Yet, she was sure that things really were about to change from here on out for her. Maybe they would change entirely for Storybrooke too-or who knows the whole world even… Certainly her whole world already been altered with just a single cup mysteriously moved across her apartment.

And unbeknownst to the young woman’s knowledge, maybe things would also change for another-the one still inside her apartment who was currently claiming the visibly empty spot on her rumpled bed which did indeed sink in a bit as if having an added weight.

But that’s a story for another night.


End file.
